Sonic the Hedgehog is a videogame icon with games spanning 30 years, tackling numerous genres, including side-scrolling, platformer, action-adventure, pinball, and even kart racing. But there’s one more genre that Sega legend Takashi Iizuka would love to tackle, and that’s a Sonic RPG.
Sonic would undoubtedly stand tall among the best RPGs. We can just see it now – an ARPG featuring all of your favorite Sonic characters. Speaking in an interview with YouTube Channel Good Vibes Gaming (thanks, Eurogamer), Iizuka states that he “really like(s) role-playing games.”
He goes on to say that “the RPG game format is a lot of fun, and I’ve even thought to myself, ‘you know, for the past 30 years, we haven’t done a Sonic RPG’. And I’m questioning myself. ‘Why haven’t we done a Sonic RPG in all this time? How have we gotten to 30 years with no RPGs?'” It’s worth pointing out that while Iizuka hasn’t worked on a Sonic RPG, BioWare has created one. Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood released in 2008, and it remains the only RPG in the franchise.
Sega released the very first Sonic game in 1991 for the Sega Genesis (Mega Drive outside of the US), spurring more than 30 years of games, comics, TV shows, and movies. Sonic has appeared on Sega, Mobile, Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox game systems, with the most recent release being Sonic Dream Team on Apple Arcade, though the new Sonic game, Sonic X Shadow Generations, is set to release later this year.
While working on a Sonic RPG is a “dream” for Iizuka, that’s all it is right now – a dream, as the icon states that “there are no concrete plans at this point.” Still, as he’d “like to hopefully work on a Sonic RPG at some point” before he retires, there’s every chance that Sonic Team will make plans for an RPG in the future – we’ll just have to wait and see.
Luckily, there are some fantastic Switch RPGs out there that you can enjoy for now, including some games like The Witcher 3 and games like Skyrim. You’re bound to find your next open-world game with those guides.